Perpetual Calendar

I have been loving Pinterest now for months and collecting and compiling all kinds of crafty inspiration, so I finally decided to start a project inspired by something I saw there.  I saw this pin, a clever daily calendar, two months ago and the idea has been steeping in my creative juices ever since.

Before the advent of the smart phone, I was a girl who loved her day planner.  I would take most of December to pick just the right one.  I kept my previous years planners all lined up nicely on a bookshelf and would take them out and page through them every so often.  Then one year I got a job that required me to use Google Calendar.  That same year I  received an iPhone as a birthday gift.  Sadly, my day planner habit took a backseat to the ease of digital.

I like the idea of this daily/yearly calendar, because I can justify it.  It isn’t something that can be done digitally, and it can double as a memento keeper as well, slip a picture between the dates, tape a fortune to the card, you catch my drift.  Also, if I make it look pretty, it can triple as a decor element in my office.  I like pretty boxes even more than calendars.

The idea behind the calendar is simple:  there is an index card for each day of the year.  Every day you pull out the corresponding card, write the year in the margin, and then write about something that happened that day.  If you write small, keep it short and use the backside of the card I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t last at least ten years.

So the other day, when I was shopping for ribbon at Ben Franklin, I saw an MDF box and picked it up.  I liked its heft and the slight curve to its edges.   Three days later, I was stressing over a deadline and realized I didn’t have the materials I needed.  I couldn’t do that project, but I needed to create, so I jumped in on this box.  It came together surprisingly quickly.  I found this straight forward tutorial on covering a box with paper, grabbed my PVA and my glue brush and got to work.  Once the box was covered, I wanted to clean up the seams and edges and decided to give my washi tape a try.  What a revelation!  The tape was so easy to apply and the seams of the tape were barely visible.  It turned out better than I imagined and now I have a reason to buy more, I’m always looking for reasons to buy more washi tape.

The next step was creating the divider tabs.  I used my trusty Silhouette and downloaded a file for three pocket tabs.  I was able to size them perfectly and stretch the tab height for more impact.  They cut quickly and, after I slapped on a little glue, I had these adorable little custom dividers; *swoon*, I love office supplies even more than pretty boxes.

The not-so-fast part came last.  I needed to stamp 365 index cards, one for each day, and get them into the box, in order.  Needless to say, I’m still not finished with that step.

I’m so excited to start using this calendar.  I think I’m going to keep its focus on the Bub:  things he says, his latest tricks, milestones, etc.  I’m not a scrapbooker, but I am a memory keeper, and hopefully this calendar will be just the vehicle I’m looking for to keep my growing boy’s best moments preserved.

Keep pressing on,

Carson